Described as a “walking miracle” by his former manager for his astonishingly swift recovery from open heart surgery in November, Kilmarnock goalkeeper Max Stryjek has revealed that his condition had been a ticking time bomb for the past decade.
The 29-year-old Polish shot-stopper insisted he “never had a doubt” he would return to football despite spending six months on the sidelines. Stryjek made his first appearance since October in last month’s 1-0 defeat at Aberdeen, then kept a clean sheet in a 3-0 victory over Dundee United at the weekend, lifting his side above St Mirren and out of the Scottish Premiership’s relegation play-off spot.
Now he has opened up about the condition that prompted Kilmarnock to announce six months ago that he would miss a match against Heart of Midlothian after annual screening flagged something requiring further investigation.
Former Livingston and Wycombe Wanderers keeper Stryjek, who returned to the Premiership last summer after a spell with Jagiellonia Bialystok in his homeland, revealed that his aorta, the body’s largest artery, “was a bit bigger than usual.”
“The margin for a normal human being is 40-41 millimetres at most,” he explained. “Mine rose to about 55, and there was a risk of it basically ripping apart, causing me to collapse and die. The doctors told me there was a high risk, so I needed surgery as soon as possible.”
Stryjek admitted it was a frightening moment, but not a complete shock.
“When I moved to Sunderland at 16, I had all the medical tests,” he said. “When I was 18 or 19—about 10 years ago—they told me I had this issue and might need surgery in the future. I wasn’t really stressed about it. I thought, okay, this is something I have to manage, look after my body. Then, 10 years later, I got the operation, something I never thought I’d have to deal with. Life is unpredictable.”
Stryjek felt confident he was “in really good hands” when he traveled to London Bridge Hospital for the procedure.
“I knew the surgeon who performed the operation—he had done around 1,500 surgeries himself, and only about 3,000 such operations have been performed worldwide,” he said. “That gave me confidence. I knew I’d be back as soon as possible, and everything went to plan.”
Within two days, Stryjek was walking the hospital corridors, then exploring the streets of London as he began his journey back to fitness—a journey current manager Neil McCann described as “brave.” It was McCann’s predecessor, Stuart Kettlewell, who called the Pole a miracle worker when he returned to training in December.
“I never had a doubt. I just took it day by day, step by step,” Stryjek said. “I’ve been playing football since I was seven, so I’d say I’m an athlete, a professional. My body recovers better than normal people.
“Honestly, the first training sessions were really bad, but it takes time. The drive to come back was simply because I love football. I don’t know how I did it, but I did.”
Image source, SNS
Image caption, Max Stryjek was sidelined for months after surgery
